Black Hat Chefs NC

Black Hat Chefs head to West Virginia to help flood victims

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West Virginia Flood 2016Rainelle West Virginia, social media and an old friendHow those things will permanently affect 4 chefs from North CarolinaLast weekend while watching TV, I saw a news clip on the massive flooding that was occurring in West Virginia. As I watched I thought to myself, I know people in West Virginia, and I hoped that they were OK. And like possibly many Americans that was all the thought I really gave it. I hoped that they would be safe but even though it is a state close to NC, it seemed a world away.

That all changed when my old friend and classmate from the Culinary Institute of America Sue Bastian and her husband Paul Brian Ciciora started sending out pictures of the massive destruction on Facebook. We had been friends on Facebook for years and followed each other lives through social media.

Looking at these pictures on Facebook showed me how they were smack in the middle of a major disaster. I was glued to what was going on there. Sue was a great friend of mine while we were students at the CIA some 26 years ago. I was worried and started thinking about how I could help.​I reached out to her husband Paul who was on site working at a mobile kitchen in White Sulphur Springs WV. I asked him how I could help and he told me to check out the nonprofit group he was volunteering at. Paul is a full-time chef at the Greenbrier resort. The resort was closed due to the flooding, so many of the chefs that worked there were volunteering to help feed hundreds of people with absolutely no way to cook food for themselves. It was a community in absolute distress.

The nonprofit he directed me to was “Mercy Chefs” (mercychefs.com) This group is out of Virginia but was born out of the need of Hurricane Katrina. They travel the country going from disaster to disaster helping people not only through nourishment but through spiritual healing as well. I checked them out and knew I had to be part of this. I reached back out to Paul and said that I wanted to help. He gave me the number to the chef in charge Fred Tiess.

​After a few emails to Mercy Chefs and to Fred, I saw they desperately needed help. They pride themselves on professionally prepared meals served to people in need. I wanted on this train and said I want to volunteer. I was going to drive to West Virginia some 4.5 hours way. I quickly thought of my chefs and said, we could use them too.

I texted Ryan Conklin, Paul Berens, and Steve Pexton late Sunday night June 26 and laid out my plan. I told them about my friend, and how I connected on Facebook and how the town they lived in was devastated. I told them about Mercy Chefs and how they needed help and would they want to come with me. In very short order I got return texts “count me in”, “when do we go” and “hell yeah”. I was so proud of them, they just wanted to help yet given only basic information they jumped right on this.

So there we were the next day with blessings from UNC REX Healthcare leadership (who rock by the way.) driving from Raleigh. Our truck was loaded down with suitcases, knife kits, chef coats, aprons and side towels.We arrived in White Sulphur Springs about 1 pm the that day. As we rolled down the highway, everything looked normal. Every once in a while, we would see some damage to trees and dirt and debris on the road but nothing serious that would make us believe a disaster had occurred. We then got off the exit to White Sulphur Springs that all changed.

Our first image was massive destruction of the creek beds, cars upside down, sheds, garages and debris all over the place. We saw a lumber yard that looked like it had been blown up. Construction crews were hard at work everywhere. Front end loaders, bobcats, dump trucks all over the place. People were swarming trying to clean up this major devastation. We saw tractor trailers literally ripped apart and left in a pile of shredded metal. It was humbling to see such damage.

We didn’t really know where to go so we pulled into a grocery store parking lot. When we did we saw Army medevac helicopters, coming and going. There were Army medics and civilians giving out Tetanus shots, cleaning supplies and bottled water. We had never seen anything like this.

We got to the Mercy Chefs site and were immediately impressed. We met the key players and told them to put us to work. Lunch had already been served so we started to work on dinner. We diced onions, roasted pork loins, cut cabbage and made desserts. We made side salads and generally did whatever they asked of us. This was not our gig, we were volunteers and wanted to help in anyway, so if that meant wash dishes or take trash to the dumpster that is what we did. It was very satisfying to be there.

What we saw was an organization that was deeply committed to helping people. The permanent staff of Mercy Chefs was amazing. Their head chef Walter was a former US Marine Corps cook that had an amazing culinary skill set. He was totally devoted to his mission, in fact, he told me it was his calling and oh by the way it was definitely his kitchen (in a very good way). He was grateful that we had come all the way from North Carolina.

After that meal, we went back to our hotel 30 miles away. There was no water or electricity in the town we were serving. We all said we felt guilty in some way as we had the ability to shower and be in air conditioning. This was something that many in White Sulphur Springs were weeks and possibly months away from having.

The next day we went back to White Sulphur Springs to prep and cook for lunch, which we did, but our new mission would be Rainelle West Virginia. This town will forever have an effect on all of us. It certainly has changed me.This small community of Rainelle was about a 45-minute drive from where we were located. We were told that if you think White Sulphur (as the locals call it) is bad, wait to you get to Rainelle. Rainelle is worse off, and when we got there we saw that indeed it was much worse. White Sulphur had teams of construction crews, grocery stores, food trucks and BBQ tents….. Rainelle had none of those things.

What we saw was an active military operation. The WV Army National Guard was in charge here. They were everywhere, Humvees, military police, state police and Guardsmen everywhere. They had heavy equipment moving material that was placed in front of homes and businesses. It was bedlam. The stench was at times overbearing. It was a totally different feel than White Sulphur, it was far worse off and it was 6 days since the flood had occurred. The people were visibly torn apart emotionally. They had all lost everything they had ever owned.

What we did not see was adequate port-a -potties, hot food and disinfectants. We had people ask us if we had bleach and another ask us if we had hand sanitizer. It was sad to see all of this unfold in front of us.We went for a short walk to survey the area when we first got there. We saw cars that were completely covered in mud inside and out. All of these cars were totally destroyed. Houses with water marks 5-6 feet up the side was commonplace. People were scraping mud out of their houses and pulling out sheet rock. There were piles of garbage everywhere we looked. We knew we needed to get to work.

So we set up operations on a corner lot that used to be a car dealer, right next to a trailer dealer. The trailers in that lot were completely destroyed. They looked like a can opener had ripped open the metal. Everything around us was destroyed. People were cleaning out their business all along Main St. The Army was just down the road using front end loaders to clear debris, which was everywhere. All the homes in the downtown area and I mean all of them were destroyed.

The thing that I remember most was an immense sense of community. You could tell that before the flood, this was a close- knit town. It was even closer in the face of this disaster. Everyone was so nice and thankful that we were there. They were amazed that we had come from another state and were willing to help. We were like are you kidding me, this is an honor to be able to help out. I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else that day.

One of the commodities’ that we had was fresh fruit, we had bananas, apples, and oranges. People were so happy to see them. Fresh food was pretty scarce at that time. We also had BBQ pork and beans, Peach cobbler and a cold marinated vegetable salad. A meal many had not seen in over 6 days.

About an hour after being there Ryan found a 5 foot statue of a chef, like the kind you see in some restaurants. We moved him over to our site and put a cardboard sign on him saying we had fresh hot cooked meals and fresh fruit. It was pretty cool. The people in the neighborhood would stop by and take pictures of it. It was then that I noticed something that we had not seen since we arrived. People were smiling. They loved the chef statue and for just that one moment they forgot about their loss and just smiled. I couldn’t believe how powerful that was. Kudos to Ryan for making their day just a little bit better. We took the chef back home with us to Raleigh and we will clean it up and bring it to our café. It will be dedicated to the people of Rainelle West Virginia.

So we plated up about 200 meals and we split them up into 4 trucks. Many of the people in the town could not get to us, so we went to them. Ryan, Steve, Paul and I went to go find some people to feed. Paul and I were on the tailgate of the truck as Ryan drove through the neighborhood. We handed out meals to people as we pulled up beside their homes. Everyone was so appreciative. It was very emotional for Paul and I and we both got a little teary-eyed when we saw how a simple hot meal had such an effect on people. The saddest thing was we learned about the people that had died. A total of 26 people died and 13 of them came from this little town of Rainelle. One of the ones who died was bed ridden and lived alone. He drowned while lying in bed. We learned about the animals that drowned and how some people barely made it out of the water. It was very touching and very sad.​After we were done, we met up with the Mercy Chefs again at a small church. We all got together and they said a prayer for our safe return to Raleigh. We had only been there two days but we felt very connected to these people. They are an amazing organization and I am so glad our paths crossed.

The next day we drove back to North Carolina, we all reflected on what we had seen and done. We felt proud to have gone but were all sad that we were leaving. Had it not been for a few commitments we all would have stayed longer.When I got home, I looked around my house saw the furniture, pictures, and my dogs. I couldn’t imagine all of it being gone, with no way to ever get it back. None of the people in Rainelle had flood insurance. It was all just gone.I am humbled by this experience and I want to send a message to all that read this, please reach out to groups like Mercy Chefs (mercychefs.com) and volunteer or donate money. They do great things. We will be lifelong friends and a big fan of theirs forever.

To the people of Rainelle and White Sulphur Springs West Virginia, you will always be in our thoughts and prayers.​-The Chefs from North Carolina

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Black Hat Chefs version 2.0

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New Branded concept

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Grill food redefined

Check out our newest food concept. We were the first hospital in the South Eastern United States to remove fried food from our menus. Cib/o Grille is the first of its kind. Gourmet upscale food served in a hospital cafeteria setting. Check us out on Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4orNNAHRkgc

Chef Inspired

What started as an idea to change hospital food has now grown to be one of the most successful food service operations in a hospital setting. Our Chef approach to hospital food was to look at every item we were serving and try to make it better by using the freshest ingredients, proper cooking techniques and the proper presentation of the food.

We took everyday items that every hospital serves like fruit cocktail, Jello and angel food cake and made them better. Fruit cocktail was replaced with a fresh fruit cup with berries and shaved white chocolate. Our Jello was transformed from cut up cubes into a two tiered Jello parfait topped with fresh berries and whipped cream. Our angel food cake was replaced by a low fat handmade banana pudding and our Vanilla Panna Cotta topped with a blueberry compote. The Black Hat Chefs are changing the way patients are being fed.

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Tyran Lawson (pictured left) wins gold medal with Chef Ryan Conklin. The Rex team took on CEC's, RD's, welders mask's and other chefs from around the country. They won gold medals’ beating local and national hospital food Service operations at the annual (AHF) Association of Health care Food service in Miami. Because of Tyran’s dedication on the job and during his Black Hat Chef training, along with wining gold, he was nominated and received a full scholarship to The Chef Academy in Morrisville NC. This $50,000 scholarship shows just how important the Black Hat Chef program is. This is why it was created… to bring out the best in our employees. The Black Hat Chefs is all about “oooh Rah Sgt Airborne ” Our challenge to be the best!......... Black Hat Chefs, Raleigh NC !

Restaurant Quality

Our restaurant style approach has dramatically changed how our food is served. Our cadre of classically trained chefs comprises over 120 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Our chefs and cooks have worked in place like the Four Seasons Resorts, Emeril Lagasse Restaurants, Walt Disney World, Westin hotels, Pelican Bay Country club, Commanders Palace, Tribeca Grill NYC, Gramercy Park Hotel and even an upscale restaurant in Limerick, Ireland.

Over the last few years we have built an incredible culinary team. Everyone on our team is committed to bringing the highest quality food and service to our patients.